“Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: ‘Never again to war!’; ‘With war everything is lost’. Instil in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace… May the words ‘division’, ‘hatred’ and ‘war’ be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be ‘brother’, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!”

(A quotation from Pope Francis in a communique to Presidents Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas, at the Vatican Gardens, June 2014)